BRANDS I LOVE : CODEX BEAUTY - CLEAN, NATURAL SKINCARE FOR HEALTHY, YOUTHFUL SKIN
With new, clean skincare products coming out every week, beauty is finally cleaning up its act! It’s an exciting trend in skin care that I believe is here to stay. But more than just carving out a separate product category alongside K-Beauty, haircare and acne brands, clean beauty brands are forcing the rest of the industry to follow their lead.
Codex Beauty is one clean beauty brand that’s leading the way.
Why? Is it because it’s the right thing to do? Maybe. But I think it’s more than that. The consumers are driving this trend as much as the brand marketers and product formulators. We consumers are saying, bring me clean skincare options at a similar cost and quality as what I’ve been using, and I’m in.
That’s the same idea that has driven me to organic fruits and vegetables. Are they better for me? Sure they are. But until very recently, there was an organic add-on cost that forced me to ask if it was really worth it. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn’t. Now, the price difference between organic strawberries and non-organic strawberries is only fifty or seventy-five cents. It’s more of a no-brainer, an obviously better choice.
So what about clean skin care? Well, the category really runs the gamut — from lower-priced options to more sophisticated, premium brands. On the low end are cleanish brands like The Inkey List and Good Molecules. I say “cleanish” because clean beauty standards are not set in stone, not validated by an institution like the World Health Organization — so the products are relatively clean, except for a few potential skin irritants in the form of commonly used preservatives like Phenoxyethanol. (There’s an excellent piece on the synthetic preservative called Natural Skin Care - The Dangers of Phenoxyethanol here.)
Herbivore’s Lapis Balancing Facial Oil is made with 7 clean botanical extracts and costs $72.
When it comes to stricter clean beauty standards established by retailers like Sephora, Credo and Follain, on the lower end are brands like First Aid Beauty, Origins, and Skinfix. An everyday clean moisturizer like First Aid Beauty’s Ultra Repair Cream costs around thirty-two dollars; the brand’s clean, exotic-sounding Ultra Repair Oat & Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil, thirty.
The more sophisticated, reliably clean brands include Herbivore Botanicals, Bioffect and Codex Beauty. Herbivore’s popular Lapis Balancing Facial Oil is made with seven clean botanical extracts and costs seventy-two dollars. Bioeffect’s Micellar Cleansing Water? Exactly the same — seventy-two dollars! I’m not sure why a cleansing water would be so expensive but I’m dying to get my hands on it to see for myself! (Bioeffect, if you’re listening…)
I’ve been on a clean beauty kick for the last year — out to prove that you can rely on clean, effective, natural skin care. I kinda look at the clean beauty market as organic and natural skin care all grown up.
Meet Codex Beauty.
I first discovered the relatively new Codex Beauty on the cyber-pages of my favorite beauty news site, Beauty Independent. Last week in my blog article about plastic-free skin and hair care brand Ethique, I mentioned how I read about the New Zealand-based maker of moisturizers, serums and cleansers in bars on the cross-trainer at the gym one morning.
Guess what! That’s how I discovered Codex Beauty, too!
Codex Beauty is a multibrand company of clean skincare collections.
Codex recently launched their first full range of clean skin care called the Bia collection. From the pages of Beauty Independent: “Codex Beauty, a multibrand company established by scientist, investor and entrepreneur Barbara Paldus with a focus on sustainability and clean skincare, is kicking off with an update of seven-year-old Irish line Bia Beauty.”
Bia Beauty started out as an independent brand, selling in small retailers and markets around Ireland.
According to Beauty Independent,
“Bia is the brainchild of Tracey Ryan, a medical herbalist who grew up making potions from plants that thrived in the fields of Ireland near her mountain home. After creating the brand on her kitchen table, it matured to enter retail partners in Ireland like Avoca, a lifestyle concept chain similar to Anthropologie. Up until the Codex acquisition, Ryan ran Bia as a family business with no more than five people in its workforce and a small factory in Cork, where the company is based, manufacturing its products. She will continue at Codex as master formulator for Bia and managing director of Codex Beauty Ireland.”
Codex Beauty is a multi-brand company focused on sustainability and clean, non-toxic, pro-skin health skincare. Their skincare formulations are based on natural science, plant-based preservatives, sustainability, and transparency — part of what the brand refers to as its “Codex Beauty Code”. This is how clean beauty is done — built from the ground up, from the soil, marrying natural science with skin science and letting nothing get in the way of that balance.
Let’s have a look at the Bia Collection.
Codex Beauty’s Bia range is a complete, clean skincare routine comprised of five products — an exfoliating cleanser, “superfood” lotion, moisturizer, eye cream and facial oil. Not all of them are conventional, expected products. The Skin Superfood, for instance, functions as a multipurpose product that I still haven’t gotten my mind around. It’s intriguing — on top of being clean and cool to use. More on that one in a moment.
Codex Beauty has secured multiple certifications for the Bia skincare collection.
One of the most important benefits of the collaboration between Codex and Bia is the certifications that an independent Bia brand may not have achieved on its own. All of the collection’s products are vegan, cruelty-free and carbon assessed to meet the carbon footprint standard. Notably, though, each of the five Bia collection formulas has been Ecocert certified and received EWG verification for safety. That’s a big deal.
A big round of applause to Codex Beauty! I’ve discovered so many cool, new clean brands on the pages of Beauty Independent but Codex is one of my most exciting discoveries yet.
Bia Collection Skin Superfood
The first thing I want to say about the clean Bia Skin Superfood is that it’s a moisturizer. Sure I love the catchy name, but I think people need to know immediately what a skincare product does. Hey, I’m a skincare copywriter who’s named hundreds of products over the years, so I kinda look at it from that viewpoint. But, that’s the only negative thing I could muster.
The Codex Beauty Bia Skin Superfood is a phenomenal product. Interestingly, it’s a relatively simple formula made with a wonderful blend of natural, organic and vegan botanical extracts and oils.
Again, the clean formula has been awarded EWG validation for safety and been ECOCERT verified. In all, there are just 17 ingredients, one of which is the sole oil in the treatment, Almond Oil, at a very high level (no.2) — meaning it’s likely to be between 10-20% of the formula. Immediately following is Lactobacillus Ferment — a popular fermented active that nourishes and balances skin as it helps enhance absorption of other actives.
There are 6 botanicals, each delivering varying levels of antioxidant protection — and most offering a skin-soothing benefit, particularly the Marigold Flower Extract — aka Calendula.
Codex says Skin Superfood is a “hydrating and nourishing treatment cream for face, hands and body. Made with our unique BiaComplex™ herbal formula, this cream helps treat dry, flaky or irritated skin and leaves it silky smooth.”
Body, huh? Hey, why not! The texture is what I’d describe as a thicker lotion (aka a lightweight cream!) that melts easily into skin. But the herbaceous aroma is what has me purring like Orpheus when I walk in the door at the end of the work day. It’s super easy to layer at any point in your routine — but especially before a heavier moisturizer or facial oil. If you like a lighter weight moisturizer, you’ll love the texture of the Bia Skin Superfood.
For such a clean, well-formulated, versatile moisturizer, its $50 price is quite reasonable IMO.
**WATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW OF THE CODEX BEAUTY CLEAN BIA COLLECTION ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE.**
Bia Collection Day Cream
So yeah, the Skin Superfood is a moisturizer in my book, albeit a lighter, more unconventional one. Which brings me to the “real” moisturizer in Codex’s clean skincare range. The Bia collection Day Cream is a bit thicker, though it’s not overly heavy. Let’s say it does the job and does it well.
The first thing that strikes me about the Day Cream is the scent. Or maybe non-scent. I can’t seem to put it into words. If it’s possible to smell like nothing, maybe this is it. But it’s not possible to smell like nothing — because it does smell like something.
It reminds me of that brand, Brandless™. They claim to be able to sell everyday items like diapers, peanut butter and even multi-vitamin gummies for less because there’s allegedly no real brand. It’s honestly the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in all my years in consumer marketing. If the supposed brandless brand named Brandless™ weren’t actually a brand, then why bother with the trademark symbol? There’s nothing to trademark!
Okay, so back to the moisturizer that smells like nothing, which is in itself, something. If you’ve ever smell dried flowers, you know what I mean. They’re often not exactly fragrant. They smell lifeless in an herby way, not a dead way. So, the Bia Day Cream smells like dried flowers — lifeless, dead, whatever!
The Codex Beauty Code assures the brand’s standards for safety, efficacy, transparency and more.
Of course, Bia Day Cream complies with the Codex Beauty Code for safety, efficacy, transparency and more. It’s clean, non-toxic and didn’t hurt any bunny rabbits on its journey to my bathroom sink.
So, what about the INCI? Getting past water at position number one, is a terrific botanical oil for skin — Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis aka almond oil. It’s not sexy like, say, Babassu Oil or the Amazonian Sacha Inchi Oil in The Inkey List’s Bakuchiol cream. But it doesn’t have to be sexy to be effective. Think of Almond Oil as the nerdy, quiet kid who pays no attention to the distractions going on in class around him. He’s just there to learn and gtfo of that small town as soon as possible! (Hmm…I may be projecting.)
Here’s what Paula Begoun has to say about the humble nut oil,
“Also known as sweet almond oil, this is a non-volatile, non-fragrant oil extracted from the seeds of almonds and used as an emollient. Almond oil is a rich source of skin-replenishing ingredients including triglycerides and several fatty acids (oleic, linoleic, and myristic among them). It is not known to cause sensitivity.
Almonds (Prunus amygdalus) can be sweet or bitter. Sweet almond is listed in Latin as Prunus amygdalus or Prunus dulcis and does not contain harmful constituents. Bitter almond comes from another species, Prunus amara, and does contain harmful constituents that shouldn’t be applied to skin.”
I love science!
The Bia Day Cream also contains a high level of Lactobacillus Ferment to nourish skin and break down actives, allowing for better penetration into the skin barrier. Ingredient number four is Marigold Flower Extract — that oh so wonderfully soothing calendula! In fact, there are few ingredients as soothing as calendula except perhaps Centella Asiatica and Bisabolol — the active component of chamomile.
In all, there are seven botanical extracts and oils here. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t give honorable mention to this one: Fucus Serratus (Serrated Wrack) Extract.
Yeah, I’m not even gonna go there.
Seriously, such good stuff in the Bia Day Cream.
Bia Collection Facial Oil
Nothing gets me even remotely excited about winter — the bitter cold, the biting winds. It’s just pure awfulness. From December to February, I’m literally semi-comatose. But there are a few sparks of joy in the personal Siberia in my head. One of them is a good ole facial oil — the perfect treatment for sustaining healthy skin in harsh cold air.
It took me a very long time to come to embrace the miracle of a well-formulated facial oil. And even longer to understand that facial oils are just a different form of moisturizer — one that hydrates, soothes, replenishes, nourishes and, yes, moisturizes the skin.
Facial Oils are moisturizers without the cream!
It seems like these oil-rich treatments began to make a big splash about two to three years ago. The Active Botanical Serum from Vintner’s Daughter was the first breakout facial oil on the scene. Suddenly, every brand needed to have one. And as with so many products, Deciem’s The Ordinary brought multiple facial oils to the market and everyone hopped on board the facial oil express. The Ordinary’s single note oils like Rosehip Oil, Sea Buckthorn and Squalane are suddenly in everyone’s shelfies!
Codex really nailed it with the Bia collection Facial Oil. Without meaning to sound too extra, it’s exquisite! The Facial Oil is a wonderful blend of seven non-fragrant plant oils, including Rosehip Seed Oil, Kiwi Seed Oil, Baobab Seed Oil, Prickly Pear Seed oil and, of course, Almond Oil. Vitamin E and three botanical extracts round out the INCI — one of them being the aforementioned Fucus serratus (Serrated wrack) extract.
Okay, I can’t stand it. I just have to look it up...
Here: Serrated Wrack is a brown lichen or seaweed that thrives just above the low water mark on rocky shores.
Rocky shores like those that surround Cork, Ireland — where Bia first came to be and where the Blarney Stone is. I know this because I’ve been. And, yes, I kissed it!
As you’d expect, the Bia Facial Oil is rich, silky, and elegant. It doesn’t feel overly greasy on skin but it does feel like your skin is being treated to something really healthy and nourishing. As with the others, the Facial Oil is perfectly well-rounded — a clean, non-toxic, reliably efficient formula that does what it’s supposed to do and does nothing it shouldn’t.
That’s it guys. If you’ve ever gotten to this point at the end of one of my blogs and thought to yourself, man this guy can talk, now you know why…
Those who kiss the Blarney Stone are forever bestowed with the gift of gab!
🖤 SKINCARMA
**WATCH MY VIDEO REVIEW OF THE CODEX BEAUTY CLEAN BIA COLLECTION ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE.**
The Ingredient List of the Bia Collection Skin Superfood:
Aqua (Water), Prunus amygdalus dulcis (Almond) oil, Lactobacillus ferment, Sodium stearoyl lactylate, Propanediol, Glyceryl stearate, Viola tricolor (Heartsease herb) extract, Althaea officinalis (Marsh-mallow) extract, Cetyl alcohol, Glycerin, Helichrysum italicum (Immortelle) flower extract, Cocos nucifera (Coconut/) fruit extract, Calendula officinalis (Marigold) flower extract, Symphytum officinale (Comfrey) leaf extract, Potassium sorbate, Phytic acid, Citric acid.
The Ingredient List of the Bia Collection Day Cream:
Aqua (Water), Prunus amygdalus dulcis (Almond) oil, Lactobacillus ferment, Calendula officinalis (Marigold) flower extract, Sodium stearoyl lactylate, Propanediol, Glyceryl stearate, Oenothera biennes (Evening primrose) oil, Cetyl alcohol, Glycerin, Cocos nucifera (Coconut) fruit extract, Tocopherol, Fucus serratus (Serrated wrack) extract, Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) seed oil, Citrus nobilis peel (Sweet mandarin) oil, Sodium hyaluronate, Phytic acid, Potassium sorbate, Citric acid, Limonene*, Citral*
*Naturally occurring in essential oils
The Ingredient List of the Bia Collection Facial Oil:
Rosa canina (Rosehip) seed oil, Actinidia chinensis (Kiwi) seed oil, Adansonia digitata (Baobab) seed oil, Prunus amygdalus dulcis (Almond) oil, Opuntia ficus-indica (Prickly pear) seed oil, Hippophae rhamnoides (Sea buckthorn) fruit extract, Fucus serratus (Serrated wrack) extract, Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) seed oil, Tocopherol, Myrica gale (Sweet gale) oil, Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) leaf extract.
